Thaddeus Young just played one of the best games of his career a day after surviving an exodus of Sixers players at the trade deadline. The Sixers, shorthanded and already the losers of nine in a row, still lost the game and further increased their lottery odds for next year’s draft. Here’s more from the franchise that seems most committed to “tanking” this year for future trade-offs:

Before the game, Young commented to reporters on the Sixers not trading him, including Tom Moore of Bucks County Courier Times (via Twitter). After a lot of speculation around his rumored dissatisfaction in Philadelphia and their willingness to move him, the 25-year-old power forward doesn’t sound necessarily upset, but still wants to play for a winner. “I was prepared to stay or go,” said Young. “I’ve always said I want to play on a winning team.” The question remains whether Philadelphia’s slew of assets can develop into anything close to a winning club by next year, when Young will be on the final year of his contract.

Sixers GM Sam Hinkie stated the obvious to reporters, including Tom Moore of Bucks County Courier News, that he will try and turn the Sixers’ $26MM cap space, two first-round picks, and five second-round picks in the upcoming draft into premium players. “I think we’ll have a whole set of interesting opportunities in June,” Hinkie said. “We are focused on what matters, on trying to build something for Philadelphia, on trying to plant seeds and to put this program in a place that we can compete when it matters. We thought (Thursday) was yet another step in that process.”

In the same piece, coach Brett Brown said “We have to be ruthless and get the right people here” in reference to the picks and cap room that took the place of Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes, and Lavoy Allen in deadline-day trades. Brown has previously said that the rebuilding process in Philadelphia has been more difficult than he anticipated.

Brown also said that he too will talk to newly acquired Danny Granger. Hinkie said earlier that he wanted to meet with Granger before granting the 30-year-old’s buyout wishes, and Brown says he’d like “to sit down with (Granger) and see what he wants.”